Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian football
defender
and coach. He was also a football
manager of the Nigeria national team. He was one of only two people, along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach.
After a playing career
mostly with Belgian clubs, Keshi went to the United States to be educated in
coaching. In 1996 he was
joined by Augustine Eguavoen, who
once coached the Nigerian national team. They played together in California. Keshi
has been a part of the coaching staff for the Nigerian national team, most
notably as head coach for the Junior
Eagles at the 2001 African Youth Championship which
also served as qualification for the 2001
FIFA World Youth Championship, without success.
Between 2004 and 2006 Keshi coached the Togo national football team,
surprisingly bringing them to their first World Cup tournament, Germany 2006. Having secured Togo's unlikely
qualification, he was promptly replaced by German coach Otto Pfister prior to the World Cup finals, after
Togo showed a dismal performance and failed to advance to the knock-out stage
in 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in
Egypt. However, Pfister did not last beyond a controversial World Cup campaign
that nearly resulted in a player's strike over pay and Togo remained without a
manager until February 2007 when they re-engaged Keshi in time for a friendly
against Cameroon.
He worked as manager of the Mali national football team, after
being appointed in April 2008 on a two-year deal. Keshi was sacked in January 2010,
after Mali's early exit in the group stages of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
Keshi became coach of the Nigerian National Team in 2011. He led Nigeria to qualification for
the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which
they went on to win, defeating Burkina
Faso 1–0 in the final. Keshi
led Nigeria to the 2013
Confederations Cup, defeated Tahiti6–1,
and lost 1–2 to Uruguay in the second game, and also lost 0–3 to World Cup
winners, Spain in their final group game.
He was one of the most patriotic citizens of Nigeria who
worked relentlessly to improve the quality of coaching and success in soccer
home and away.
Keshi had a heart attack and died
en route to hospital on 7 June 2016 in Benin
City, aged 54.